The Charity Commission has confirmed that two charities are under investigation for previously funding the advocacy group, Cage, which has been criticised for making supportive comments about the Islamic State killer nicknamed 'Jihadi John'.
The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Roddick Foundation are both subjects of compliance cases by the regulator for providing the group with a total of £425,000 between them.
Cage describes itself as an “independent advocacy organisation working to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror”.
It faced criticism in recent days after its research director Asim Qureshi reportedly described Islamic State executioner Mohammed Emwazi as an “extremely gentle” and “beautiful young man”, leading to a backlash over charities that have funded the organisation.
A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said that statements made by the group "raise clear questions for a charity considering funding its activities as to how they could comply with their legal duties as charity trustees".
“I can confirm that we have compliance cases open into both the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Roddick Foundation," the spokeswoman said.
"In both cases the Commission’s regulatory concerns are about how the trustees have ensured that charitable grants made to non-charitable bodies are only used for exclusively charitable purposes in line with their objects.
“This regulatory engagement has included robustly examining each charity's decisions to previously make grants to Cage, which is not a charity.”
The comments made last week by Qureshi about 'Jihadi John' prompted Lord Carlile, a former independent reviewer of anti-terror legislation, to accuse Cage of being an “organisation with a warped view” that “no sensible person should be funding".
Cage 'bewildered' by fresh investigation
A statement on Cage’s website released yesterday said the group's bank account was shut down a year ago but called for online donations as a show of support.
It said the group had "come under attack as an organisation" following revelations about its connection to Emwazi, and "individuals who are part of Cage did too".
In a statement provided to Civil Society News today, Asim Qureshi said: "We find it bewildering that the Charity Commission would seek to undertake an investigation into our funders, particularly as they just completed one into that very same issue.
"The conclusion of the previous investigation, was that there was no issue in funding Cage, but that it would be better practice for funding to be restricted to specific projects. We have received no further funding since that conclusion, so we cannot imagine what might have changed."
Joseph Rowntree responds
A spokeswoman for the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust confirmed that grants were made to Cage in 2007, 2008 and 2011 - with the final instalment of the 2011 grant paid in January 2014.
In a statement released on Friday it said: “As a Quaker trust, we reject and condemn all violence, including all violence for political ends.
“Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust has previously funded Cage to promote and protect human rights. We believe that they have played an important role in highlighting the ongoing abuses at Guantanamo Bay and at many other sites around the world, including many instances of torture.
“The Trust does not necessarily agree with every action or statement of any group that we have funded. We believe that Cage is asking legitimate questions about security service contact with those who have gone on to commit high-profile and horrific acts of violence, but this does not in any way absolve any such individual from responsibility for such criminal acts.”
Civil Society News has been unable to contact the Roddick Foundation because contact details listed on the Commission's website are out of date.
